Single poly-si process for dram by deep n well (nw) plate

ABSTRACT

A method for forming, within a double well formation, an array of DRAM memory cells isolated from each other by shallow trench isolation (STI), each cell comprising a MOSFET access transistor and a storage trench capacitor. A top plate of said capacitor is the trench wall within a deep N-well portion of the double well and the bottom plate is formed of a doped polysilicon layer within the trench, which layer is partially separated from the trench sidewalls by a dielectric layer whose upper portion is removed to allow the formation of a autodiffused doped channel between said polysilicon plate and the source region of the access transistor. The method uses a single dielectric layer deposition to serve as both a gate dielectric for the MOSFET and a capacitor dielectric and requires only a single deposition of polysilicon to serve as both the transistor gate electrode and a capacitor plate.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention

[0002] This invention relates generally to the fabrication of dynamicrandom access memories (DRAM's), particularly such memories in which thememory storage device is a deep trench capacitor and wherein individualmemory cells are electrically isolated from each other by isolationtrenches.

[0003] 2. Description of the Related Art

[0004] Typical dynamic random access memories (DRAM's) consist ofdensely packed arrays of memory cells which are themselves comprised ofa charge storage device coupled to a charge accessing device. The chargestorage device is usually a capacitor and the accessing device isusually a single MOS field effect transistor (MOSFET). The transistorcan be connected at its source to one plate of the storage capacitor, atits drain to a conducting bit line and at its gate electrode to aconducting word line. In a normal operation in which a 1 or a 0 iswritten on or read from a particular memory cell, the particular cell isselected by choosing the appropriate pair of intersecting word and bitlines. Applying a given potential to the word line turns on the accesstransistor and a given charge applied to the bit line will then bedeposited on the capacitor plate and stored. Conversely, during reading,the word line again activates the transistor and this time the presenceof the charge in the capacitor is sensed by appropriate circuitry andidentified as a 1 or 0.

[0005] A major problem associated with the design of increasingly densearrays of memory cells is the necessity of decreasing the surface areaof the storage capacitors while not decreasing their capacitance.Chatteijee et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 5,208,657) describes the difficultiesof using planar capacitors as storage units in a DRAM module having a 5volt power supply. Such a capacitor would require a capacitance ofapproximately 50 femtofarads (fF) and, in consequence, a capacitor areaof approximately 20 square microns. Not only is this area overly largefor the most densely packed circuits, but it presents an unacceptablyvulnerable target for alpha particles which are a causal mechanism forsoft error rates (SER). Chatterjee discloses the use of a trenchcapacitor, which is a capacitor formed in a trench or cavity thatextends vertically into the substrate of the integrated circuit that canbe produced by a variety of etching mechanisms. Such capacitors gainplate area and, hence, capacitance, through an increased verticalextension rather than by horizontal extension. One plate of such acapacitor is defined by the surface of the inner wall of the dopedregion of the substrate within which the trench is formed. Although thisinner wall forms the plate boundary, charge can in fact also be storedwithin a depletion region formed beneath the wall surface and extendinginto the doped substrate. The other plate of the capacitor, which canalso be a storage plate, is a conductive core that is deposited withinthe trench. An oxide layer is first formed over the inner trench wall toserve as a dielectric medium and to insulate one plate from the other.The prevalence of such trench capacitors within the practice of theprior art is illustrated by the work of Kato et al. (U.S. Pat. No.4,907,047), which teaches a method of forming a memory cell comprising astorage capacitor having a first electrode formed in the side and bottomwall portions of a primary cavity and having a second electrode formedover a dielectric film which covers said first electrode. Motonami (U.S.Pat. No. 5,185,284) describes a “groove” type capacitor (which isessentially a trench capacitor) which is circumscribed by a secondcapacitor to increase the overall capacitance of the combination.Cunningham (U.S. Pat. No. 6,177,697) describes a trench capacitorpartially surrounded by a shallow trench isolation region (STI). Thesubstrate is then doped through the inner surface of the trenchcapacitor, which is then lined with an oxide and filled with apolysilicon core to form a capacitor plate. A second capacitor plate isformed by the doped surface of the inner wall of the capacitor trench.Alsmeier et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 5,793,075) describes a deep trenchcapacitor within a lightly doped substrate wherein an inversion layerbeneath the trench serves as one plate. Sakamoto et al. (U.S. Pat. No.5,574,621) discloses a trench capacitor in which a plurality ofconductor filled trenches connected by a conducting layer comprise asingle bottom electrode and a second conducting layer, disposed over adielectric layer, comprises a top electrode. Hoenigschmid et al. (U.S.Pat. No. 6,037,620) discloses a DRAM cell comprising a shallow isolationtrench (STI), a storage trench capacitor partially overlaid by the STIand an access IGFET transistor connected to the perimeter of thecapacitor by a conduction path that utilizes a buried strapinterconnection.

[0006] The need to increase the density of memory cells and to integratethem with logic devices leads to complex fabrication processes. Inparticular, the fabrication of large DRAM arrays is complicated by aplurality of dielectric layer depositions to form gate and capacitordielectrics and polysilicon depositions which are necessary to form theword and bit line connections to each cell and to provide connectionsbetween the access transistors and their associated storage capacitors.Even with the use of trench capacitors to reduce surface areas, thespacing between capacitors is limited by charge diffusionconsiderations. It is the purpose of the present invention to provide amethod of isolating densely packed memory cells from each other whiledoing so in an efficient and cost effective manner that focuses on theminimization of dielectric and posysilicon depositions. In particular,the novel approach of forming the trench capacitor and the accesstransistor within a double well in which an isolation trench has alreadybeen formed provides an efficient method for forming cell plateconnections having advantageous resistance properties.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0007] A first object of this invention is to provide a method forforming one or a plurality of densely packed dynamic random accessmemory (DRAM) cells that can be efficiently and cost-effectivelyintegrated with associated logic circuitry.

[0008] A second object of this invention is to provide such single orintegrated DRAM cells that are characterized by low noise and soft errorrates (SER).

[0009] A third object of this invention is to provide a method forforming one or a plurality of DRAM cells with high storage capacitanceand low cell area.

[0010] A fourth object of this invention is to provide a method forforming DRAM cells and circuitry which can be diminished in dimension tolevels exceeding that required by the 0.18 micron generation of devicesand beyond.

[0011] A fifth object of this invention is to provide a method forforming such DRAM cells that produces a low cell plate connectionresistance.

[0012] A sixth object of this invention is to provide a method forforming a DRAM memory cell that can be independently biased.

[0013] In accord with the objects of this invention there is provided amethod for forming a single DRAM memory cell or an array of such DRAMmemory cells in a semiconductor substrate. Each such cell includes atrench capacitor as a charge storage mechanism having a high capacitanceand small surface area, a MOSFET as the accessing mechanism for storingand retrieving charge from the storage capacitor and a shallow isolationtrench (STI) for electrically isolating one cell from another. Furtherin accord with the objects of this invention there is provided a methodfor forming the isolation trench, the capacitor and the transistorwithin a double well structure formed in the substrate, said wellstructure comprising a relatively shallow doped well of a first dopanttype (the upper well) formed within a deeply implanted doped well of asecond dopant type (the lower well). The isolation trench is containedwithin the upper well. The capacitor trench extends through the upperwell and terminates within the lower well, wherein the trench bottom andthe portion of its inner sidewall surface within said lower well formsone capacitor plate (a top plate) and the well itself provides a lowresistance connection to said plate. A preferred embodiment of thisinvention discloses a double well which is a relatively shallow P-wellsubstantially contained within a deep N-well formed in a siliconsubstrate. Further in accord with the objects of this invention, whenmore than one storage capacitor is to be formed within the same wellstructure in forming an array of memory cells, there is provided amethod for separating the trench capacitors of neighboring memory cellsby the formation of shallow trench isolation (STI) regions within thewell structure. Yet further in accord with the objects of thisinvention, there is provided a method of forming the trench capacitor sothat a substantial portion of the sidewalls and the bottom of thecapacitor trench lie within the lower well, said portions therebyforming the top plate of the capacitor, while the bottom plate of saidcapacitor is formed by the deposition of a conducting layer whichcompletely fills the interior of the trench, but is separated from theinterior surface of the trench sidewall by a dielectric layer whichcontacts all regions of the trench sidewalls and base except a regionwithin the upper well from which the dielectric layer has been removedand which the bottom plate thereby contacts electrically. Within thepreferred embodiment, the conducting layer is a layer of dopedpolysilicon. Yet further in accord with the objects of this inventionthere is provided a method of forming an access transistor of the MOSFETtype immediately adjacent to the trench capacitor, the gate electrode ofsaid transistor being formed on a gate dielectric layer over thesubstrate surface above the double well and the source and drain of saidtransistor being formed beneath the gate electrode within the upper wellof the double well formation and said transistor advantageously makingdirect electrical contact with the bottom plate of the trench capacitorby means of an doped region, autodiffused from the doped polysiliconbottom plate, that contacts said bottom plate through an upper region ofthe interior trench wall surface from which the dielectric layer hasbeen removed. Still further in accord with the objects of this inventionand to facilitate fabrication of said memory cells in an efficient andcost effective manner, there is provided a method of forming both thebottom capacitor plate, which is the conducting layer filling thetrench, and the gate electrode and word line of its access transistor,using a single deposition of a conducting material, which is dopedpolysilicon in the preferred embodiment. Further in accord with theobjects of the present invention there is provided a method of formingsaid DRAM structures while employing a single oxide growth process toform both the transistor gate oxide and the capacitor dielectric layer.Still further in accord with the objects of this invention there isprovided a method of forming said DRAM structures and associatedcircuitry while using a minimum number of photolithography maskingsteps.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0014] The objects, features and advantages of the present invention areunderstood within the context of the Description of the PreferredEmbodiments, as set forth below. The Description of the PreferredEmbodiments is understood within the context of the accompanyingfigures, wherein:

[0015]FIGS. 1 through 5 are schematic cross-sectional representations ofthe formation of a single DRAM memory cell comprising a P-channel typeMOSFET access transistor and a storage trench capacitor.

[0016]FIGS. 6-11 are schematic cross-sectional representations of theformation of a pair of DRAM memory cells isolated from each other byshallow trench isolation.

[0017] The figures illustrate the formation process in a series of stepsaccording to the method of the invention. FIG. 11 shows the completedfabrication as covered by an interlayer dielectric (ILD) withmetallization thereon and contact formation therein.

[0018]FIG. 12 shows an overhead view of a plurality of such DRAM memorycells, indicating more clearly their geometric topography and theintersection of word lines and bit lines.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0019] The present invention provides an efficient and cost effectivemethod for forming a single DRAM memory cell or an array of such cells,electrically isolated from each other by shallow trench isolation,within a double well formation in a semiconductor substrate. In thepreferred embodiment of the present invention, each cell is formed in asilicon substrate and each cell comprises an isolation trench, a MOSFETused as an access transistor, and a trench capacitor used as a storagemechanism. Within the preferred embodiment, the memory cell is formedwithin a double well structure, comprising an upper well, which is aP-well, substantially contained within a lower well, which is a deepN-well. The access transistor is a MOSFET whose source and drain regionsare formed within the upper well, while the trench capacitor extendsthrough the P-well into the deep N-well, within which N-well itssidewalls and bottom surface form one of its two plates (the top plate).The sidewalls and bottom of the capacitor trench are conformally coveredby a dielectric layer with the exception of a small region of thesidewall within the upper well, from which a portion of the dielectriclayer is removed so as to expose the sidewall surface.

[0020] The second capacitor plate (the bottom plate) is formed of alayer of conducting material, N-doped polysilicon in the preferredembodiment, which fills the dielectric coated interior of the trench andis also used to form the gate electrode of the accessing transistor. Thetransistor is electrically connected to the capacitor through anautodoped channel formed between the bottom plate of the capacitor,where it contacts the exposed portion of the sidewall surface, and thesource of the transistor. When more than one such cell is formed withinthe same double well, adjacent cells are isolated from each other byshallow trench isolation (STI) within the upper well of the double well.

[0021] Referring first to FIG. 1, there is shown a schematiccross-sectional representation of the first steps in the formation of asingle DRAM memory cell in accord with the objects and methods of thisinvention. There is seen a semiconductor substrate (1), which in thisembodiment is a silicon substrate of P-type conductivity, wherein ashallow trench (2) for isolation purposes has first been formed. Theshallow trench is formed by masking and etching processes well known inthe art and it is then filled with oxide and its upper surface isrendered co-planar with the substrate surface by a method such aschemical/mechanical polishing (CMP). Subsequent to the shallow trenchformation a double well is formed within the substrate. The double wellcomprises a deeply implanted well (5), which is a region of thesubstrate deeply ion-implanted with dopant ions of one conductivitytype, within which is formed a shallower well (3), which is a lessdeeply ion- implanted region with dopant ions of another conductivitytype and which is substantially contained within the deeper well. Inthis embodiment, the double well comprises a shallow P-well (3) formedwithin a deep N-well (5), wherein the N-well is formed by a high energy(approximately 2-3 MeV) implant of N-type P₃₁ ions at a dosage ofapproximately 10¹²-10¹³ ions/cm² and wherein the P-well is formed by alower energy (approximately 100-200 keV) implant of P-type B₁₁ ions at adosage of approximately 10¹²-10¹³ ions/cm². The resulting ion densitieswithin both the P and N wells is between approximately 10¹⁶ and 10¹⁸ions/cm³. As is evident in the figure, the shallow isolation trench (2)is substantially contained within the upper well (3).

[0022] Referring next to FIG. 2, there is shown a continuation of thefabrication of FIG. 1 wherein a trench (8) for a capacitor has beenetched into the double well so as to pass through the full verticalextent of the P-well and terminate within the deep N-well, with thebottom of the trench (7) and a substantial portion of the trenchsidewalls (9) being within said N-well. This trench will eventually formthe storage capacitor of the memory cell. The method for etching such atrench is well known in the art, so the photolithography and maskingprocess has not been shown. However, it is to be noted that the etchingprocess should be of a high etch selectivity relative to the oxidealready deposited within the STI trench and, furthermore, the capacitortrench itself can be self-aligned to the STI trench so that it will beat least partially surrounded by said STI trench and electricallyisolated from another capacitor subsequently formed in an adjacent cell.The formation of such an additional capacitor will be illustrated inFIGS. 7-11.

[0023] The bottom of the capacitor trench (7) and the portion of itssides (9) within the N-well will ultimately form a top plate of thestorage capacitor for the memory cell and the N-well itself will providea highly conductive connection to said plate. The portion of thecapacitor trench within the upper well will be electrically isolatedfrom the adjacent access transistor by a dielectric layer at thecompletion of the process and it will be isolated by the isolationtrench from any adjacent capacitors subsequently formed.

[0024] Referring next to FIG. 3a, there is shown a schematic drawing ofthe fabrication of FIG. 2 wherein a dielectric layer, which in thisembodiment is in the form of an oxide (12) has now been formed toconformally cover at least the upper surface of the substrate over thedouble well and also the sidewalls and bottom of the trench to athickness of between approximately 30 and 100 angstroms. The portion ofthe oxide layer residing on the upper surface of the substrate willultimately serve as a gate oxide for the gate of the access transistorwhich will be subsequently formed adjacent to the capacitor, whereas theportion of the oxide residing on the sidewall (9) and bottom (7) of thetrench will serve as a capacitor dielectric to separate the twocapacitor plates. A layer of photosensitive material (16), such as aphotoresistive material, has then been conformally deposited over allsurfaces of the gate oxide (including those within the trench),whereafter a partial exposure and development of said photosensitivematerial has allowed the removal of a portion of said material abovesaid trench opening (20), leaving a portion still remaining within saidtrench (21). The partial removal of said photosensitive material withinthe trench exposes, thereby, a portion of the capacitor dielectric (23)covering an upper portion of the trench wall, allowing said portion tobe subsequently removed. The removal of this portion of the capacitordielectric is an important part of the present invention since it willeventually allow the formation of a direct and efficient contact betweenthe source of the access transistor and the capacitor plate within thetrench and permits the access transistor and capacitor to be in closeproximity to each other. An alternative method of exposing gate oxide onthe upper portion of the capacitor trench is shown in the schematicdrawing of FIG. 3b, wherein a layer of bottom anti-reflective coating(BARC), an organic photosensitive medium, is first applied (24) over thesubstrate surface so as to also fill the capacitor trench (27). A layerof a second photosensitive medium (28) is then deposited over the BARC,the second medium being capable of exposure by radiation of a frequencythat does not expose the BARC. The second medium is then exposed andremoved over the trench opening (31) and the BARC is partially etchedback (33) by an O₂ dry etch, to expose an upper region of the dielectriclayer covering the trench walls (23).

[0025] Referring now to FIG. 4, there is shown a schematic illustrationof the fabrication of FIG. 3a wherein the exposed dielectric layer overthe upper wall ((23) in FIG. 3a) of the trench has been etched away(37), the remaining photosensitive layer has been removed and a layer ofconductive material, which in this embodiment is an N-type dopedpolysilicon layer (38), typically doped with P₃₁ ions to a densitybetween approximately 10¹⁹-10²⁰ ions/cm³, has been conformally depositedto a thickness of between approximately 1000 and 5000 angstroms over thegate oxide (12), filling the trench completely (41). It is to be notedthat the layer makes electrical contact with the substrate at (37), theregion from which the capacitor dielectric has been removed. It isfurther noted that N-type dopant from the polysilicon diffuses into thesubstrate (56) to form an autodoped conducting channel which willultimately connect to the source of the access transistor. Althoughsimilar doping (not shown) will extend from the other side of thecapacitor, it will be blocked by the isolation trench (2). It is asignificant advantage of the method of this invention that this singlepolysilicon layer (38) will serve both as a bottom plate for thecapacitor, whose top plate is formed by that portion of the sidewallsand bottom of the trench within the deep N-well, and also to form thegate electrode for the access transistor. The polysilicon layer may besmoothed by a method such as chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) tofacilitate a subsequent interlayer dielectric deposition.

[0026] Referring now to FIG. 5, there is shown a schematic drawing ofthe fabrication of FIG. 4 wherein said polysilicon layer ((38) in FIG.4) has been patterned and etched by a photolithography process (notshown) to produce a gate electrode and word-line formation (42) for theaccess transistor of the memory cell and to complete the bottom plateformation of the trench capacitor (45). The gate electrode and word-linepolysilicon formation (42) has been provided with lateral insulatingspacers (48) and the polysilicon capacitor bottom plate (45) has beensimilarly provided with lateral spacers (50). An adjacent access MOSFETtype transistor has been formed in the shallow portion of the doublewell beneath the gate electrode (42) by the implantation of N-typelightly doped drain (NLDD) (52) and source (55) regions doped with anion implant density of between approximately 10¹³ and 10¹⁴ cm⁻². Thesource (55) of said transistor is electrically connected to thepolysilicon bottom plate (45) of the storage capacitor through theheavily N-doped capacitor contact (56) which is doped by autodiffusionfrom the polysilicon capacitor bottom plate (45) to an ion density ofapproximately 10¹⁹-10²⁰ cm³. Although it is not shown herein, electricalcontacts to the drain of the transistor will eventually form the bitline to access the memory cell.

[0027] The advantages inherent in the method of forming the memory celljust discussed are further extended when a plurality of such cells areformed as in forming a DRAM array. Following, therefore, is adescription of the use of the preceding method to form at least a pairof memory cells within the same double well wherein electrical isolationof the two trench capacitors is achieved by means of shallow trenchisolation.

[0028] Referring to FIG. 6, there is shown a schematic cross-sectionalrepresentation of the first stage of the formation of a pair of adjacentDRAM memory cells within a silicon substrate (1), wherein a a shallowtrench isolation (STI) region (2) has first been formed, filled withoxide and rendered coplanar with the substrate surface by a method suchas chemical-mechanical polishing. Following the STI formation, a doublewell (as in FIG. 1) has been formed, comprising an upper P-well (3)formed within a deep N-well (5), the shallow trench isolation (STI)region (2) now being disposed within the P-well to electrically isolatethe two trench capacitors that have yet to be formed. The method offorming each of the trench capacitors is essentially identical and isalso the method applied in the formation of a single memory cellpreviously described with reference to FIGS. 1-5. The formation of twoadjacent cells is shown to particularly point out the use of STI toseparate the storage capacitors of the two adjacent cells.

[0029] Referring next to FIG. 7, there is shown a continuation of thefabrication of FIG. 6 wherein a pair of capacitor trenches (8) & (10)have been etched into the substrate on either side of the STI so as topass through the vertical extent of the P-well and terminate within thedeep N-well, with the trench bottom and a substantial portion of thetrench sidewall being within said N-well. Since the method for etchingsaid trenches is well known in the art, the photolithography and maskingprocess has not been shown. The sidewalls and bottoms of these trencheswithin the N-well will ultimately form the top plates of the storagecapacitors for the two adjacent memory cells and the N-well itself willprovide an efficient method of making electrical connection to allcapacitor top plates. It is stressed that the method of forming the twotrenches and of completing the formation of the capacitors is the sameas that disclosed in FIGS. 1-5 and discussed above.

[0030] Referring next to FIG. 8a, there is shown a schematic drawing ofthe fabrication of FIG. 7 wherein a dielectric layer in the form of anoxide (12) has now been conformally formed on the upper surface of thesubstrate to a thickness of between approximately 30 and 100 angstroms.On the upper surface of the substrate over the double well the oxidewill serve as a gate oxide for the gate of the access transistor,whereas on the sidewalls (14) and bottoms (15) of the trenches, it willserve as a capacitor dielectric to separate the two capacitor plates. Alayer of photosensitive material (16), such as a photoresistivematerial, has then been deposited over the gate oxide and within thetrench, whereafter a partial exposure and development of said medium hasallowed the removal of a portion of said material above said trenchopenings, leaving a portion still remaining within said trench (20 &21). The partial removal of said photosensitive material within each ofsaid trenches exposes, thereby, a portion of the gate oxide (22 & 23)covering an upper portion of each trench sidewall within the upper wellof the double well, allowing said portions to be subsequently removed.The removal of this portion of the capacitor dielectric is an importantpart of the present invention since it will eventually allow a directand efficient contact between the source of the access transistor andthe capacitor plate within the trench. An alternative method of exposinggate oxide on the upper portion of the capacitor trench is shown in theschematic drawing of FIG. 8b, wherein a layer of bottom anti-reflectivecoating (BARC), an organic photosensitive medium, is first applied (24)over the dielectric layer (12) on the substrate surface so as to alsofill each capacitor trench. A layer of a second photosensitive medium(28) is then deposited over the BARC, the second medium being capable ofexposure by radiation of a frequency that does not expose the BARC. Thesecond medium is then developed and removed over each trench opening (30& 31) and the BARC is partially etched back (32 & 33) by an O₂ dry etch,to leave a residue in each trench (37&39) and expose an upper region ofthe dielectric layer covering the trench walls (34 & 35). All otherreference numerals are the same as in FIGS. 6 and 7.

[0031] Referring now to FIG. 9, there is shown a schematic illustrationof the fabrication of FIG. 8a wherein the dielectric layer over theupper walls of the trench has been etched away (36 & 37), thephotosensitive layer has been removed and a layer of conductivematerial, which in this embodiment is a polysilicon layer (38) has beendeposited to a thickness of between approximately 1000 and 5000angstroms over the gate oxide (12), also filling each trench completely(40 & 41). It is to be noted that the layer makes electrical contactwith the substrate at (36) and (37), the area of the trench walls fromwhich the capacitor dielectric has been removed. It is further notedthat a region behind this area (56) becomes doped by autodiffusion ofN-type dopant ions from the polysilicon layer within the trench toultimately provide a conducting channel between the capacitor bottomplate (see FIG. 10) and the transistor which is to be fabricated. Thepolysilicon layer may be smoothed by a chemical mechanical polishing(CMP) to facilitate a subsequent interlayer dielectric deposition.

[0032] Referring now to FIG. 10, there is shown a schematic drawing ofthe fabrication of FIG. 9 wherein said polysilicon layer, (38) in FIG.9, has been patterned and etched by a photolithography process (notshown) to produce both a gate-electrode/word-line formation (42) for theaccess transistor of the memory cell and to complete the bottom plateformation of each trench capacitor (44) & (45). It is also noted thatthe STI region (2) now electrically isolates the capacitor bottom plates(44) & (45) from each other. It is a significant advantage of the methodof this invention that the single conductive layer (38) will serve bothas a bottom plate for the capacitors, whose top plates are the sidewallsand bottoms of the trenches extending into the deep N-well, and to formgate electrodes for the access transistors.

[0033] Referring now to FIG. 11, there is shown a schematic drawing ofthe completed transistor/capacitor memory cell and the adjacent memorycell, both covered by an interlayer dielectric (46) which can be a layerof SiO₂ deposited to a thickness of between approximately 5000 and10,000 angstroms. The gate/word-line polysilicon formation (42) has beenprovided with lateral spacers (48) and the polysilicon capacitor bottomplates (44 & 45) have been similarly provided with lateral spacers (50).An access transistor, which in this embodiment is a MOSFET has beenformed by the implantation of N-type lightly doped (NLDD) drain (52) andsource (55) regions at an implantation density of between approximately10¹³ and 10¹⁴ P₃₁ ions/ cm⁻² and a bit line contact (54) has been formedthrough the ILD to form a conducting contact to the drain (52) of saidtransistor. The source (55) of said transistor is connected to thepolysilicon bottom plate (44) of the storage capacitor through a heavilyN-doped capacitor contact (56) which is doped by autodiffusion from thepolysilicon capacitor bottom plate (44) to a density of betweenapproximately 10¹⁹-10²⁰ ions/cm³. Also shown are two portions of a firstmetallization deposited on the ILD. A first metallized bit line (58)electrically contacts the connection (54) to the transistor drain (52)and a second metallized line (60), provides a reference potential,Vcc/2, for the deep N-well (6) through a connecting line (64) to aheavily N-doped region (62) in a secondary N-well (61). It is throughthis highly conductive contact that the top plates (the portion of thetrench sidewall of each capacitor within the same deep N-well) of all ofthe storage capacitors acquire a common potential. In general, eachtrench capacitor is connected to an access transistor. The trenchcapacitor with plate electrode (45) is not shown with its accesstransistor so that the deep N-well pick-up (61) can be shown. Thispick-up produces an electrical contact to the deep N-well which, inturn, allows the top plates of the capacitors to be placed at a commonpotential. It is also understood that other ion species and densitiesmay be used to produce the same conductivity types.

[0034] Referring finally to FIG. 12, there is shown an overheadschematic diagram of the arrangement of the bit -line contacts to thedrains of the access transistors and the word lines to the gates of theaccess transistors. The dashed circled region (10) corresponds to theportion of the fabrication that has been schematized in cross-section inthe preceeding FIGS. 1-6. The plane of the cross-section in FIGS. 1-6corresponds to the horizontal dashed line (11) passing through (10). Thetwo trench capacitors are shown as (45) and (49) and the STI region isindicated as (41). The access transistor for capacitor (49) was notshown in FIG. 11 and the deep N-well pick-up ((61) in FIG. 11) is notshown in this figure. The bit line conducting contact is (58), the wordline (42) is shown in FIG. 6 in cross-section also as (42).

[0035] As is understood by a person skilled in the art, the preferredembodiment of the present invention is illustrative of the presentinvention rather than limiting of the present invention. Revisions andmodifications may be made to methods, materials, structures anddimensions employed in the present method of fabricating DRAM memorycell structures, while still providing a method for fabricating DRAMmemory cell structures, in accord with the spirit and scope of thepresent invention as defined by the appended claims.

What is claimed is: 1-26. Cancel
 27. A method for fabricating a DRAMcell array comprising: providing a semiconductor substrate; forming ashallow isolation trench within said substrate; filling said shallowisolation trench with a dielectric material and rendering the trenchsurface coplanar with the substrate surface; forming within saidsubstrate a double well comprising a shallow upper well of a firstdopant type substantially contained within a deeper lower well of asecond dopant type, said isolation trench being now being containedwithin the shallow well thereof; forming within said double well atleast two adjacent DRAM cells, said cells being separated by saidisolation trench and each cell including a storage trench capacitor andadjacent access transistor, said DRAM cell formation further comprising:forming within the double well a capacitor trench, said capacitor trenchhaving a trench opening in the surface of the double well, sidewallsextending through said upper well and into said lower well and a bottomin said lower well, the trench bottom and the portion of the sidewallwithin the lower well forming a first capacitor plate and said trenchbeing at least partially surrounded by said shallow isolation trench;forming a layer of dielectric material over the upper surface of thedouble well, to form thereon a transistor gate dielectric, said layeralso conformally covering the sidewall and bottom of said trench, andforming, thereon, a capacitor dielectric; removing a portion of saiddielectric layer to expose an upper region of the sidewall of saidtrench; forming a conducting layer over the dielectric layer, theconducting layer also conformally filling the trench; patterning saidconducting layer to form a gate electrode for said access transistoradjacent to said trench opening on the side of said opening opposite tosaid isolation trench, a portion of said conducting layer remainingwithin the capacitor trench forming a second plate for said capacitor;forming source and drain regions within the upper well of said doublewell beneath the gate electrode, the source region being electricallyconnected to the second capacitor plate through an autodiffusedconducting channel extending to said source from the exposed region ofthe trench sidewall.
 28. The method of claim 27 wherein the formation ofthe double well further comprises: forming within said semiconductorsubstrate a deep well, which is a region deeply implanted with ions of afirst dopant type to a first ion density; forming within said deep wella shallow well which is a region less deeply implanted with ions of asecond dopant type and to a second ion density, said shallow well beingsubstantially contained within the deep well.
 29. The method of claim 27wherein the patterning of said conducting layer further comprises:removing a portion of said conductive material to form two disjointremaining portions, one of said remaining portions forming a transistorgate electrode and the other of said portions, which includes theportion conformally filling the trench, forming a capacitor bottom plateelectrode.
 30. The method of claim 27 wherein the dielectric layer isremoved from the upper region of the trench sidewall by a method furthercomprising: forming a layer of photosensitive material over the surfaceof said dielectric layer, said photosensitive layer also filling theinterior of said trench; patterning said layer by exposure to radiation;removing a portion of said photosensitive layer to form an opening intosaid trench, said opening extending into the upper portion of saidtrench and exposing the dielectric layer covering said portion of thetrench; removing the exposed portion of the dielectric layer; removingall remaining portions of the photosensitive layer.
 31. The method ofclaim 27 wherein the dielectric layer is removed from the upper regionof the trench sidewall by a method further comprising: forming a layerof bottom anti-reflective coating (BARC) material over the surface ofsaid dielectric layer, said layer also filling the interior of saidtrench; forming a layer of photosensitive material over said BARC layer;patterning said photosensitive layer by exposure to radiation; removinga portion of said photosensitive layer over the trench opening, toexpose the BARC layer beneath it: removing a portion of the BARC layerwithin the trench sufficient to expose a portion of the dielectriclayer; removing the exposed portion of the dielectric layer; removingall remaining portions of the photosensitive layer and BARC layer. 32.The method of claim 27 wherein the semiconductor substrate is a siliconsubstrate.
 33. The method of claim 32 wherein the first dopant type ionsare N-type ions.
 34. The method of claim 33 wherein the N-type ions aredeposited to a density of between approximately 10¹⁶ and 10¹⁸ ions/cm³.35. The method of claim 32 wherein the second dopant type ions areP-type ions.
 36. The method of claim 35 wherein the P-type ions aredeposited to a density of between approximately 10¹⁶ and 10¹⁸ ions/cm³.37. The method of claim 32 wherein the dielectric layer is a layer ofSiO₂ formed to a thickness of between approximately 30 and 100angstroms.
 38. The method of claim 32 wherein the conducting layer is alayer of doped polysilicon deposited to a thickness of betweenapproximately 1000 and 5000 angstroms.
 39. The method of claim 38wherein the polysilicon is doped with N-type ions to a density ofbetween approximately 10²⁰ and 10²¹ ions/cm³.
 40. The method of claim 32wherein the transistor is formed by implanting lightly doped source anddrain regions with N-type ions.
 41. The method of claim 40 wherein theN-type ions are implanted to a density of between approximately 10¹⁸ and10¹⁹ ions/cm³.
 42. The method of claim 32 further comprising theformation of an electrical contact to the bottom plate of saidcapacitors by means of an electrical connection to the deep N-well.